1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plate processing system and a plate processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Punching or forming a workpiece using a punch press machine is known. In the punching or forming processes, the following operation is repeated: a portion of the workpiece to be processed is positioned at a punch position and the portion is processed, and then the workpiece is moved so as to position a next portion to be processed and the next portion is processed. Also, cutting a workpiece using a laser machine is known. The laser machine cuts the workpiece by moving a laser head while irradiating the workpiece, held at a predetermined position, with a laser beam. There is known a plate processing system incorporating the punch press machine and the laser head, as one processing machine, to form and cut a workpiece (Refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-137868).
A recently used laser beam having a high thermal density, such as a fiber laser, can cut the workpiece, even when the laser head moves at high speed. However, with the configuration described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-137868, since the workpiece is moved with respect to the fixed laser head, the advantage of high-speed cutting laser cannot be sufficiently utilized. For example, it is considered to process the workpiece by use of separate punch press machine and laser machine. In this case, it takes time to transfer the workpiece between the punch press machine and the laser machine. In addition, passing of the workpiece between the machines tends to cause displacement of the workpiece, lowering the processing accuracy. The plate processing system including a plurality of processing machines, such as the punch press machine and the laser machine, becomes larger as a whole, requiring a large installation space. For this reason, there is a demand for a compact plate processing system.